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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30046476">all's well that ends well (to end up with you)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/vanessadingles/pseuds/vanessadingles'>vanessadingles</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Emmerdale</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Cancer, F/F, but it ends happily, if covid never happened AU</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-16 02:14:16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,055</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/30046476</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/vanessadingles/pseuds/vanessadingles</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>An AU in which the pandemic never happens and they face Vanessa’s fight with cancer together.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Charity Dingle/Vanessa Woodfield</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>39</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>all's well that ends well (to end up with you)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I started wondering what Vanessa’s cancer storyline was meant to look like, if it hadn’t been interrupted by the pandemic. So this starts out in March 2020 and ignores everything that happened after that.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>After Vanessa asks Charity to adopt Johnny and they work things out between themselves, Charity doesn’t miss a single session of Vanessa’s chemotherapy. She forces herself to watch as the love of her life is poisoned in a desperate attempt to save her from the cancer. Charity is there to hold Vanessa’s hair back when the chemo makes her sick and then she’s there to reassure her once the chemo makes starts to make her hair fall out. She tells Vanessa that she’s still the most beautiful woman she’s ever seen, hair or no hair, and it’s the truth.</p><p> </p><p>On Vanessa’s better days, Charity brings Johnny and Moses to visit and they cheer up Vanessa like no one else can. All they really know is that their mummy is ill and they have to be more careful than normal but they’re too young to have any real understanding of the situation. Their toothy smiles and gentle hugs make Vanessa smile when nothing else does.</p><p> </p><p>Noah and Sarah both skip school far more than they should but Charity can’t bring herself to tell them off for it. Sarah keeps Vanessa company and hardly leaves her side, even if she does spend that time scrolling endlessly on her phone. She shows Vanessa funny videos every so often and Charity watches them, feeling sick that it’s cancer of all things that has bonded two of the people she loves most in her life.</p><p> </p><p>Noah hovers. He’s clearly unsure how to act with Vanessa or Charity but he’s there making endless cups of tea, or glasses of water for Vanessa when even tea is too much. He downloads endless amounts of Netflix for Vanessa to watch. It’s always comedies, never anything that’s even a little bit sad so recently at the hospital they’ve been watching Schitt’s Creek on an old iPad and Vanessa loves it.</p><p> </p><p>“We should start planning,” Vanessa says, out of the blue one day. Charity hadn’t even realised she was awake.</p><p> </p><p>“Planning what, babe?” she asks uneasily, afraid that Vanessa is wanting to plan <em>just in case</em> again. She’d brought it up a lot after first being diagnosed but it isn’t something Charity can even contemplate.</p><p> </p><p>“Our wedding. For after all this,” Vanessa answers and Charity thinks her heart might beat out of her chest. It’s the first time she’s talked about <em>after</em>.</p><p> </p><p>Charity is nodding and a few tears escape her eyes. “Yes. We can plan whatever wedding you want. Big, small, even in a church if you want,” she adds the last part just to try and make Vanessa laugh. It works.</p><p> </p><p>“Can you even go in a church without being struck down by lightening?” the other woman retorts and Charity laughs. It’s felt like a long time since Vanessa seemed this positive for the future and since she’s enjoyed teasing Charity like this.</p><p> </p><p>“Dunno, we could find out though. But seriously, there’s nothing I want more than to plan our wedding, and our honeymoon,” Charity winks suggestively. “Shall I text Tracy, get her to pick up some mags for inspiration on her way here?”</p><p> </p><p>“Dirty cow,” Vanessa laughs. “Yeah, text Trace. There’s no way she won’t want to get involved with planning, though.”</p><p> </p><p>“I bet Sarah has ideas too, actually. At least for what she wants to wear, she’s still upset we didn’t give her more warning last time,” Charity laughs lightly.</p><p> </p><p>“We have time,” Vanessa says simply. “We’ll figure it all out.”</p><p> </p><p>They both know it could be a lie. “Of course we will,” Charity says, swallowing past the lump that’s formed in her throat.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>When Charity officially adopts Johnny, they’re all in a celebratory mood. Vanessa’s been having a good week, the chemo not causing as many side effects as it usually does. They go to the Woolpack for dinner and Charity carries Johnny the whole way there even though he’s probably getting too big for that now.</p><p> </p><p>“Why’s it a party?” he asks and when Vanessa says it’s because Charity is his mummy now too, Johnny just frowns. “But she already was!”</p><p> </p><p>Charity hides her tears unsuccessfully in Johnny’s shoulder.</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, yeah she is,” Vanessa agrees, stroking a hand through Johnny’s hair and gazing into Charity’s eyes.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>On Moses’s birthday, they manage a trip out to the zoo. Vanessa smiles that day more than she has in months and Charity takes pictures on her phone, even when Vanessa protests and says she looks awful and doesn’t want to remember looking like this. “You’re still the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen,” Charity tells her. </p><p> </p><p>She still can’t manage to walk far without needing a rest, her body still exhausted from constant rounds of chemo. Moses and Johnny can barely be calmed down but Charity and Sarah are good at wrangling the two of them while Noah casually sits with Vanessa, offering his arm to help her stand up again once she’s ready.</p><p> </p><p>They don’t stay at the zoo for very long, all things considered. Moses has a great time and he’s completely fascinated by all the animals, asking Vanessa question after question. It’s the sort of thing Vanessa would usually love, but after a couple of hours her body just can’t cope with it anymore and they leave. Moses and Johnny complaining the whole way home and Vanessa falls asleep in the car. Charity is just relieved that it means she doesn’t have to hear Johnny saying that they never get to have fun anymore.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>When Charity really starts to struggle, it’s Sam that she goes to. The first time that she turns up at Wishing Well with a six pack of his preferred lager and saying she wants to speak with him, she confuses both of them but Charity knows that if anyone will understand what she’s going through, he will.</p><p> </p><p>He doesn’t judge her when she says that sometimes she wants to run away because she can’t stand to see Vanessa suffer. She feels useless, there’s nothing she can do to actually help Vanessa and she doesn’t want Vanessa to have to worry about her on top of everything else and Sam actually listens and commiserates. He talks about Alice and how difficult it was when things got bad.</p><p> </p><p>“But it were worth it in the end, the time we had together. I wish we’d had more but that’s life, innit? You just have to keep going, as ‘orrible as it is. And I know it doesn’t feel like you can help but Vanessa just needs you to be there and I know you don’t actually wanna leave her. Besides, Vanessa already knows you’re a disaster and she still loves you anyway. She doesn’t need you to be perfect, she just needs you,” he says and Charity laughs.</p><p> </p><p>“Oi, I’m not a disaster,” she retorts weakly.</p><p> </p><p>He smiles at her. “Stop panicking then, go be with her instead of up here drinking wi’ me.”</p><p> </p><p>“When did <em>you</em> get smart?” she laughs, and softens ever so slightly. “Thanks Sammy.”</p><p> </p><p>“I’ve always been smart, you just didn’t notice. Go on, tell Vanessa we’re all thinking of her. And we’re here for you as well Charity.”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>During her next check up, the latest numbers hadn’t been as good as the doctors hoped and they suggest that a more aggressive form of chemo could be useful. Charity can barely even stomach the idea that what Vanessa has already been through isn’t as aggressive as it could be. She’d take Vanessa’s place in a heartbeat, if she could. She’d take the cancer and the chemo and all of it if it meant Vanessa had her health back.</p><p> </p><p>“What are my chances without it?” Vanessa asks and Charity holds on tightly onto Vanessa’s hand to stop herself from leaving the room. She’d let herself hope that it would be good news they got today and she doesn’t know how to cope with it being bad news.</p><p> </p><p>“They’re not good, unfortunately. As I explained, the chemo you’re currently on has not been as effective as we hoped. This other chemo is effective in about a third of patients with your diagnosis. Without it, your chances are much lower,” the doctor explains and Charity feels as if the entire world is caving in on her, a feeling that’s become far too common over these past few months.</p><p> </p><p>Vanessa’s staring ahead stoically. “Can I have some time to consider it?” she asks, and the doctor nods her head, saying she’ll give them some privacy.</p><p> </p><p>Charity is turning towards Vanessa immediately, reaching out to hold the other woman in her arms. “Ness,” she whispers. “It’s going to be okay.” It’s a cliché, one that neither of them believe anymore but that Charity says out of habit and Vanessa usually lets her get away with.</p><p> </p><p>“It’s a one in three chance, Charity,” she answers and neither woman can stop themselves from crying as they cling to one another. “I can’t help but think it might be best to just stop, to be able to enjoy whatever time I still have left with you and the kids. I don’t want these to be your last memories of me.”</p><p> </p><p>Charity, the patron saint of selfishness, wants to tell Vanessa that she has to fight. That a few months isn’t possibly enough and she wants years. Decades. She knows she can’t. “Whatever you decide Ness, that’s what we’ll do.”</p><p> </p><p>“What do you think? Not the answer you think I want to hear, but what do you think, Charity?” Vanessa asks.</p><p> </p><p>“Fight,” Charity answers before she can temper her answer. “I want you to fight. There’s still a chance it’ll be effective and I don’t think I can live this life without you. The kids need you as well. But if you can’t, I understand that.” And she does. She’s seen Vanessa throughout the chemo and it’s already made her so ill and taken so much from her. “Ness, you’ve made me happier than anyone else ever has and I’ll do my best to make however much time we have left together as happy and as special as I can manage. But Ness, I really want us to have years more together. I don’t want to think our time is already running out.”</p><p> </p><p>Vanessa nods against her chest. “Promise you won’t hate me if I decide against it?” she asks and Charity can barely see through her tears by now.</p><p> </p><p>“I could never hate you. Never,” she pulls away from the hug slightly so she can look Vanessa in the face. Her eyes are as red-rimmed as Charity’s sure her own are too. “I love you more than I ever thought it was possible. I didn’t know love like this even existed.”</p><p> </p><p>They’ve told each other they love each other a thousand times and in a thousand different ways already. “Don’t forget your gloves,” “I missed you last night,” “I brought you some lunch, you forgot yours at home,” “Thanks for staying,” “I’m sorry.” </p><p> </p><p>“I’ll do the chemo,” is a new one. “I love you so much Charity. I don’t want to leave you.”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The new chemo is absolutely brutal on Vanessa.</p><p> </p><p>She’s exhausted constantly and she can’t eat anything without throwing up. She loses the rest of her hair and loses so much weight that it terrifies Charity. It’s as if Vanessa is wasting away before her very eyes.</p><p> </p><p>The children visit less often. It’s hard for all of them to see Vanessa like that and she feels guilty for worrying them so Chas and Tracy step up to look after them when she and Charity can’t manage it. They see them on all of Vanessa’s better days, which are becoming less and less often now.</p><p> </p><p>During the second round of it, she starts talking about dying. She makes sure that Charity knows exactly where her will is and what her bank details are and anything else she can think of that might be relevant. She makes Charity promise that she won’t let Moses and Johnny forget her but she says she wants them to remember her before the chemo, before the cancer. She tells Charity to move on and to find someone else to be happy with once she’s dead and Charity forces herself to nod because she knows it’s genuinely important to Vanessa but as soon as Vanessa is asleep again, she cries until she can’t anymore.</p><p> </p><p>It’s not long after that when Vanessa holds up a small, velvet box to Charity. “Wedding rings,” she says. “I made Tracy buy them for me. I know it won’t be official, but it doesn’t matter. I don’t think we have time anymore and I certainly done have the energy for any kind of actual wedding but we can still say vows. I want to be able to consider you my wife before I die. Please, Charity?”</p><p> </p><p>“Of course,” she answers. She’s already crying but she usually is, nowadays. She doesn’t try to pretend anymore that they do have time and Vanessa’s going to get better because all signs seem to be pointing towards the idea that they don’t, and she isn’t. “Do you want to go first, or me?”</p><p> </p><p>“I’ve had more time to think of what I want to say, so I’ll go first if you want.” Charity nods, and reaches over to hold Vanessa’s free hand, the one that isn’t holding the rings. “Charity, you’re the love of my life. I can’t really remember what life was like before I loved you and these past few years with you and our children have been the best of my life. You make me so happy, you’re still my special place. I’d have liked to give you a better wedding than this, and a honeymoon, but all I really care about is that you’re my wife. Now and forever.”</p><p> </p><p>Vanessa had decided that the usual vows,<em> in sickness and in death, ‘till death us do part</em> would bea bit too on the nose today. It doesn’t need saying out loud, not when their wedding isn’t really a wedding and they’re in a hospital and death is all around them.</p><p> </p><p>“Vanessa, I think you know I can’t possibly say anything as good as what you just did,” she starts, to buy herself a bit of time to think as much as anything else. “But I want you to know that this is the best wedding I’ve ever had, because you’re the only person I’ve ever loved like this. It turns out that all I ever really needed was you. You make me feel safe and loved and that’s all I’ve ever wanted. I don’t think there’s enough words in the English language for me to explain just how much I love you. Thank you for doing me the honour of being my wife.”</p><p> </p><p>Vanessa fumbles with the rings then and slides one onto Charity’s ring finger and Charity does the same with Vanessa’s, looking at the way it sits just above her engagement ring and letting herself remember when they had just gotten engaged and everything seemed possible and the idea of Vanessa getting cancer would have been laughable.</p><p> </p><p>She kisses Vanessa gently and then smiles. “By the power vested in me, by you, I now declare us wife and wife,” she says and watches a genuine smile take over Vanessa’s face. “Oh, the kiss is meant to be now, isn’t it?” Charity realises and she leans forward to kiss Vanessa again. “There. That’s us good and married now.” </p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, we are,” Vanessa agrees. “Charity, my wife, I think I need a nap now, so will you go and get our children and bring them by for a visit?”</p><p> </p><p>Charity nods. “Of course. Sleep well, Mrs Dingle. I won’t be long.”</p><p> </p><p>Vanessa’s eyes are already closing but Charity grins when she hears a quiet “see you soon Mrs Woodfield.”</p><p> </p><p>During her drive back to Emmerdale from the hospital, she finds herself getting distracted by the wedding ring on her finger. It’s obviously not the first time she’s worn one, but it’s never felt like this before. Being with Vanessa, even now, feels like freedom and safety and in every other marriage she’s had, all she had felt was trapped and alone.</p><p> </p><p>She can already picture the pitying looks the other villagers will give her when they notice the ring, but she doesn’t care. Nothing really matters anymore besides from Vanessa and their kids.</p><p> </p><p>Tracy’s been watching the little ones at Jacob’s Fold so she pulls up outside and heads inside.</p><p> </p><p>“Hey guys,” she calls, kneeling down when Johnny runs over to her for a hug. “Her Majesty is insisting on a visit, get your shoes and coats on.”</p><p> </p><p>She sits at the kitchen table with Tracy, knowing they’ll all be a while getting sorted. “Thanks for watching them today,” she says as Tracy very obviously looks towards Charity’s left hand.</p><p> </p><p>“I’d almost hoped she’d change her mind,” Tracy sighs, and then quickly carries on when she sees the look on Charity’s face. “<em>Not</em> about marrying you, calm down. She just used to be so excited about a wedding. And now, it’s like -” she trails off.</p><p> </p><p>“Like she’s giving up,” Charity finishes quietly. “I know.”</p><p> </p><p>There’s footsteps on the stairs then, and the kids reappear. “You all ready to go?” Charity asks, and they nod. “C’mon then. Bye Trace.”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>During Vanessa’s next check-up, the numbers have improved. Not massively, but it’s still an improvement and the doctors sound more confident about Vanessa’s chances now. They smile and laugh and cry and kiss and go home to tell the kids and Tracy the good news, before she needs to be back in hospital in two days timefor more chemo.</p><p> </p><p>Vanessa’s feeling good in those few days, the news that the chemo seems to be working clearly bolstering her spirit. Charity is happy as well, and manages to relax a little more than she has in weeks, if not months. They tell the kids they don’t have to go to school and they spend the whole of the two days at home together watching movies and eating junk food. Johnny and Moses build a truly terrible fort and it feels a million miles away from the hospital where they seem to spend all their time now. </p><p> </p><p>When the little ones have fallen asleep and Noah and Sarah aren’t paying them any attention, Vanessa shifts slightly so her body isn’t resting entirely on Charity anymore and she can look at her. “We’re going to be okay, I can feel it. I’m going to beat this.”</p><p> </p><p>Charity smiles. “Of course you are. We’re going to have the best life, Ness,” she says, letting herself picture it. Vanessa, with her, at parent’s evening. At Noah’s graduation. At Johnny’s wedding. Holding their grandchild. A whole lifetime of events for them to still experience together.</p><p> </p><p>“First thing I want to do is take you on a honeymoon. Just us, somewhere sunny, no kids. Then maybe an actual wedding with guests and photos and dresses,” she says.</p><p> </p><p>“I think three weddings to the same person is a new record even for me babe,” Charity laughs lightly. “But yes. I want all of that, so much.” She could take or leave another wedding, if she’s honest. She likes the idea of making it official, but the ceremony itself doesn’t seem very important to her anymore. Vanessa’s already her wife in every way that matters, but it’s not exactly going to be a hardship for her to see Vanessa all dressed up in a white dress and wanting to tell the world just how much she loves Charity. They’ll all want a chance to celebrate by then anyway.</p><p> </p><p>“I know I got scared for a while there, but I’m not giving up,” Vanessa says and Charity just holds onto her a little tighter.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Chemo continues to be tough but Vanessa puts on a brave face and Charity buys all the wedding magazines they have in the supermarket around the corner from the hospital. It works well as a distraction and Vanessa strikes up a friendship with one of the nurses who’s there often. She asks how they got engaged, saying she’s been thinking of proposing to her girlfriend but she can’t figure out how and Vanessa laughs before telling her all of the details of their somewhat disastrous, yet perfect proposal.</p><p> </p><p>“Okay, yeah I don’t think I’ll copy that plan but it does make for an incredible story,” she tells them and Vanessa spends absolutely ages brainstorming proposal ideas before she tells Jess, the nurse, that she wants an update next time she’s on shift.</p><p> </p><p>“It’s nice,” Vanessa says later on. “Talking to someone besides you who gets it.”</p><p> </p><p>Charity nods. She knows all about how much Vanessa had struggled to accept herself but it’s something she could only really understand in theory. She’d never really considered women until Zoe, and she was younger then and didn’t really question it. Any judgment she received for it seemed to pale in comparison to the judgment she received for having a baby at thirteen and being a teenage prostitute. She knows, of course, some people still judge them and see them differently and it affects Vanessa more than she tends to let on but it’s never been something Charity herself had worried much over.</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, she’s nice,” Charity agrees. “I hope it works out for them.”</p><p> </p><p>Vanessa’s absolutely thrilled when Jess is next on shift, sporting an engagement ring. It turns out her girlfriend - fiancée, now - had managed to beat her to proposing and Vanessa sends Charity out to buy a bottle of champagne and a card for them. She grabs Vanessa some popcorn while she’s out as well and the smile on Vanessa’s face when she returns with it makes everything worth it.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>A few long months later, Vanessa goes for more scans and checks to see how well the chemo has been working.</p><p> </p><p>They come back clear.</p><p> </p><p>No sign of cancer.</p><p> </p><p>Charity makes the doctor double and triple check the results. She makes her show them the scans and make sure they’re really Vanessa’s.</p><p> </p><p>The doctor is smiling the whole time, repeating over and over that yes, Vanessa really is okay now. Charity can barely believe it and Vanessa is as much in shock as she is.</p><p> </p><p>“Thank you, thank you so much. You’ll never have to pay for a drink in the Woolpack in your life. God, I can hardly believe this,” Charity says.</p><p> </p><p>“What happens now?” Vanessa asks, finding her voice again. “What’s next?”</p><p> </p><p>“Now you can go home. You relax, recover properly. Don’t try to rush yourself. And plan a wedding, I do believe,” the doctor replies, smiling at both of them. “There are going to be follow up appointments and scans, but they’re precautionary to try and catch any reoccurrences early on, if they happen. But for now Vanessa, you’re cancer free. We’ll send you a letter in the post when we schedule you an appointment, but I’d advise you not to worry too much about it. Focus on the rest of your life now.”</p><p> </p><p>“Thank you,” Vanessa says. “So, we can go now? I can go home?”</p><p> </p><p>The doctor smiles. “Yes. Go home.”</p><p> </p><p>Vanessa takes Charity’s hand and Charity thinks she’s never looked quite as beautiful as she does in that moment. “Come on, Mrs Dingle. I think we’ve spent enough time here. Thanks doctor,” she says as they step outside the consulting room the two women turn to look at each other and then their arms are around each other and and Charity lifts Vanessa a little, spinning her around.</p><p> </p><p>“Ness, you’re healthy, you did it.”</p><p> </p><p>“Only thanks to you. I’d never have got through this without you.”</p><p> </p><p>The relief they’re both feeling bubbles over and they laugh, a little hysterically. It still doesn’t feel real.</p><p> </p><p>“I recognise those smiles. Those laughs. Good news?” a now familiar voice asks and Vanessa turns in Charity’s arms to face Jess.</p><p> </p><p>“I’m cancer free,” she says, and then laughs again. “Oh my god, I’m cancer free. I thought I might never get to say that but I’m cancer free.”</p><p> </p><p>“I’m so thrilled for you Vanessa,” Jess answers and she throws her arms around both of them. Charity’s too happy to be bothered by the contact. “And I don’t want to see you back in my ward again, okay? But I do expect an invite to the wedding.”</p><p> </p><p>“Of course, you’d better be there,” Vanessa smiles and Charity isn’t even paying attention to the conversation at all, all she can do is stare at Vanessa and press a kiss to her cheek. “And bring your fiancée too! Come by the pub anytime too, drinks will be on Charity,” she offers.</p><p> </p><p>“Oi babe, stop giving away all the profits,” Charity says but she’s smiling and adds “but yeah, if you find yourself in Emmerdale, please come by. We owe you way more than a few drinks. Speaking of the pub, we should probably get back there actually. I can think of more than a few people who’ll want to hear the news.”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, you’re right. We’ll see you around, Jess,” Vanessa smiles and they wave goodbye, Charity wrapping an arm around Vanessa’s shoulder as they walk away from the cancer ward and out of the hospital.</p><p> </p><p>Charity sends a text to most of her contact list once they get into the car. <em>Pub, 30 minutes. Free drinks!!</em></p><p> </p><p>Vanessa texts Tracy separately, to make sure she’ll be there along with the kids. It doesn’t matter so much if other people don’t make it.</p><p> </p><p>But when they arrive, pretty much everyone they care about is there and Vanessa is looking around the room, for Noah and Sarah and the little ones, Charity knows. They’re about to tell everyone, but they need to tell them first.</p><p> </p><p>“Ness? How was the hospital?” Noah asks, anxiety and hope in his voice in equal measure.</p><p> </p><p>“It was good news,” she answers. “The best news, actually. I’m cancer free,” she tells them and Noah hugs Vanessa then, whispering to her that he’s so happy and when he lets her go, Sarah is waiting with a hug as well. “Mummy’s all better, boys,” she tells Moses and Johnny and they cling to her. Charity sees her wince and they’ll have to tell the little ones later that they still need to be careful but for now it isn’t important, not when everyone is so happy.</p><p> </p><p>She realises that they’re being watched and she squeezes Vanessa’s hand to get her attention. “Babe, I think people have guessed but shall we tell them properly?”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, come over here then,” she says and walks across to the end of the bar. “Hey Johnny, you wanna ring the bell?” she asks and he lights up, nodding his head rapidly.</p><p> </p><p>Charity swoops him up and lifts him so he can ring the bell noisily and if they didn’t already have everyone’s attention, they definitely do now. Charity is reminded of when they announced their engagement as she looks around at her family and friends and at Vanessa, standing next to her with their children all around them.</p><p> </p><p>“I’m cancer free!” Vanessa announces and the pub <em>erupts</em>.</p><p> </p><p>Drinks are poured, everyone offers their congratulations and Charity feels lighter than she has since the moment Vanessa first told her she had cancer. Everyone is smiling and Charity perches on a bar stool with Johnny on her lap. He isn’t a fan of the way people crowd around them and for once, Charity’s happy to be out of the way a little bit. It’s been such an overwhelming day.</p><p> </p><p>When she looks back on this day, all she really remembers is the absolute relief she’d felt. She remembers how happy Vanessa and their children looked.</p><p> </p><p>And she’ll never forget the way Noah approaches her, once people have settled down a little.</p><p> </p><p>“Mum?” he approaches her cautiously and she turns her attention to him.</p><p> </p><p>“Hey babe,” she smiles. “Are you okay?”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, I just wanted to run something by you,” he says and she looks at him curiously. Running things by Charity isn’t exactly Noah’s usual way of doing anything. “I started thinking about it, when you adopted Johnny, I thought maybe Ness might want to adopt me. She’s the best other parent I’ve ever had and this is really it, isn’t it? It’s our family,” he says and Charity feels as though her heart has doubled in size like in that stupid film Johnny likes.</p><p> </p><p>“I wasn’t sure if Ness would want to, though. And I didn’t want to make anything more stressful when she was ill,” he carries on when Charity struggles to find the words to answer.</p><p> </p><p>“No, Noah, I know Vanessa would adopt you in a heartbeat,” she rushes to reassure him. “She loves you and Moses just as much as she loves Johnny, whether there’s a piece of paper that says you’re officially her son or not. You’re right, it’s our family.”</p><p> </p><p>“So you don’t mind then? If I ask Ness to adopt me?”</p><p> </p><p>“Of course I don’t, Noah. I love the idea, I know Vanessa will as well.”</p><p> </p><p>She hugs him then, a bit awkwardly because she’s still holding Johnny, and ignores his inevitable grumbling about it. “Don’t be such a sap, mum,” he says and then Vanessa returns to them having escaped from her conversation with Rhona.</p><p> </p><p>“This all looks very cosy,” she states. “Do you fancy heading back home soon? It’s lovely how happy everyone is for us, but I just really want some time for our family now.”</p><p> </p><p>“I’ll go round up Moses, I think last time I saw him he was trying to fight his way past Marlon into the kitchen,” Noah offers and disappears in search of his younger brother. Charity stands, adjusting Johnny so he sits comfortably on her hip and takes Vanessa’s hand in hers.</p><p> </p><p>As they’re walking home and she watches Noah and Sarah chasing after Moses and Johnny rests his head against her shoulder and Vanessa’s fingers trace patterns idly against Charity’s hand, she realises that this is it. It’s what she’s been looking for her entire life. This is her family, and she’s now got all the time in the world to enjoy it and she’s not going to let it go. </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I would love to hear any thoughts on this!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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